The announcement Monday that the former Playboy Playmate died of an accidental drug overdose marks the end of a more than six-week investigation and halted _ at least temporarily _ widespread murmurs that Smith may have been murdered or simply too stricken to go on without her son Daniel, who died just five months before her.

Many theorized there was a connection between the deaths of mother and son and those assumptions won't fade so easily, particularly with an inquest into the younger Smith's death set to begin Tuesday in the Bahamas.

Jurors there were expected to hear from dozens of witnesses _ including Dr. Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist hired by Smith's family, and Smith's lawyer-turned-companion Howard K. Stern _ as they consider whether Daniel's death should be ruled an accident, suicide or perhaps even homicide.

But in Florida on Monday, the message was clear: Smith died because of a lethal combination of drugs she likely didn't know could kill her.

"We found nothing to indicate any foul play," said Chief Charlie Tiger of the Seminole Police Department.

Broward County Medical Examiner Dr. Joshua Perper said the powerful sleeping drug chloral hydrate and at least eight other prescription drugs formed a lethal combination along with a case of the flu and a bacterial infection Smith had developed from injecting drugs into her buttocks.

He said Smith had been taking a lengthy list of medications, including methadone for pain and valium, but those drugs were at therapeutic levels; she also had been on several antidepressant and anti-anxiety drugs and had recently taken longevity medications, vitamin B12 and growth hormone.

Chloral hydrate, the drug primarily blamed for Smith's death, was also a factor in the death of her idol Marilyn Monroe some 45 years ago. Smith attempted to model her career after Monroe, tattooed the icon's image on her body and even sought to be buried near her, though she ultimately was laid to rest in the Bahamas after a long court battle over her remains.

Tiger said authorities examined laptop computers belonging to Smith and Stern, and found nothing unusual related to her death. The chief said nothing came up during an exhaustive review of tapes from hotel security cameras and from interviews with numerous witnesses.

"This is not a not-guilty," said Krista Barth, one of Stern's attorneys. "This is a never was."

Smith, 39, was found unresponsive by a private nurse at about 1 p.m. on Feb. 8 in her room at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood. Smith was pronounced dead shortly afterward.

Perper said that Smith could have been saved had she been hospitalized earlier in the week _ when she fell ill and eventually developed a fever of 105 degrees _ simply because her drug intake could have been controlled.

"If she would have gone to the hospital she wouldn't have died because she wouldn't have had the opportunity to take the excessive amount of chloral hydrate," he said.

A news release issued by lawyers for Stern said that both he and Smith's physician urged her to get emergency treatment for her fever but she refused because "she did not want the media frenzy that follows her."

A high school dropout in Texas, Smith went from topless dancer to Playboy Playmate of the Year, Guess jeans model and bride of 89-year-old oil man J. Howard Marshall II. She took her fight for Marshall's estimated $500 million fortune as far as the Supreme Court, and the ongoing battle could make her infant daughter, Dannielynn, very wealthy.